Mou Ikkai
by Jeva
Summary: Between missions, Yondaime thought it was a good idea to take a break and relax. Apparently, his way of relaxing and his students' way differed more than he thought. [Spoilers for the manga PreGaiden One Shot]


**Mou Ikkai**

  


"Wow! What a beautiful place, Sensei!"

"First one to the water wins!"

"Stop running on the rocks! You'll slip and fall!"

"Let him fall. Maybe it'll knock some sense into his hard head."

"_Say that to my face, teme!_"

Arashi sweatdropped at the whole scene. Rin reprimanding Obito for being so careless even when just going for a swim; Kakashi expressing his unwillingness to do anything that required fun; Obito's attempts at wounding the Hatake's pride to coax him into the water and, when that failed, settling for splashing at the taller boy. Somehow, though he'd been teaching and leading this group for six months already, Arashi was surprised that this was the trio's idea of relaxing. Bickering, insulting, and ignoring each other.

The blond shrugged and grinned from his spot on a nearby boulder. To each their own, they said. If this was their idea of relaxing, he wasn't about to stop them. It had been a hard week on them all. A B-classed mission assigned to a group of two genin, a chuunin, and a jounin-sensei. And it had gone horribly astray.

The grin faded as Arashi recalled how Kakashi had coolly disposed of three rock genin; how Rin had tried to keep one of those genin alive for interrogation only to have the fatally wounded genin finish himself off with his own dagger; how Obito had had to turn away from the scene to vomit and then scream and cry about the cruelty of it all, about how those three genin could have been them. Arashi had only managed to stop the Uchiha from pouncing on his teammate, who had coldly pointed out that only two on their team were genin, by offering his chest to hide the boy's unprofessional tears. The sensei himself had felt tears in his own eyes but had kept them at bay.

Obito had been crying more for them than he'd been crying for the enemy.

Arashi was distracted from his thoughts at Kakashi's voice demanding the Uchiha to let him go. Apparently, the Hatake had thought walking on the water as a way to raise his teammate's ire. He had probably not taken into account that Obito would have been smart enough to latch onto a leg and throw the chuunin off-balance.

The resulting splash and a squeal from Rin had the jounin-sensei roaring with laughter.

Obito's head broke the surface first, and he beamed widely at his success, his goggle-less eyes bright with victory. Kakashi's head came up seconds later. Wet hair dripped into his half-lidded eyes that were narrowed a little more than usual. His mask was pulled off his nose so that he's be able to breathe air rather than the water droplets that soaked the clothe. The rest of his face was still submerged, probably because where he stood was a little deeper than where Obito was.

"Are you okay, Kakashi-kun?" Rin called from the bank of the river.

Obito looked more affronted than he should at the question. "Oi! He landed on top of me! Shouldn't you ask if _I'm_ all right?"

The aspiring medic-nin huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Baka! He wouldn't have fallen on you if you hadn't made him fall in!"

Arashi watched the blush appear on the dark-haired boy's cheeks as he sank down in the water to where only his eyes and the top of his head were visible, blowing bubbles miserably instead of letting the girl he had a crush on see him pout. Splashing noises took the blond's attention to the girl's actual crush to see the child prodigy pulling himself on top of the water, deliberately shaking his wet head like a dog to splash Obito in the eyes.

A strangled cry of dismay and a watery cry of "TEME!" was all the warning anyone got before the Uchiha tackled the Hatake back under the water.

The jounin-sensei let Rin's shouts fade into the background as he revisited the past week. Besides the three rock genin Kakashi had killed, Rin had been forced to use her medical knowledge to sabotage a daimyo's recovering health. She had had to be looked after for a while afterward. The daimyo had been her first real kill. Kakashi had been quiet about it; it had been her mission, after all. Obito, however, had demanded to know the reason why Rin had had to use her ability to heal to steal a life. He had continued on with his objections until Rin had slapped him across the face and shakily informed him that she was a ninja, and ninja were made to assassinate discreetly with no evidence of ninja involvement. Re-inducing the heart attack that the daimyo was recovering from for the past three days had been the perfect set-up.

Obito never said a word about that part of the mission afterward, though Arashi knew he would have to address it soon before it was time for his own first kill. The boy needed to understand that killing was a part of being a ninja, no matter how much Arashi wished otherwise.

He wished at least one person on their team wouldn't have to soil their hands with another's blood. It was a selfish wish, but the man couldn't help but pray for that wish to come true.

"Sensei!" Obito cried out, spluttering while Kakashi used him as a ladder out of the water. "HELP!"

"You got me in," the pale-haired boy said bluntly, his hands atop the other boy's head, submerging him further, "so you'll get me out. And you should really stop calling for Sensei when you're in a tough situation."

Obito could only make bubbles in response.

Arashi cupped his hands over his mouth and called, "Make sure he doesn't drown, Kakashi!" There was amusement in his voice, but there was also a warning.

The chuunin pushed himself off of the Uchiha just as arms started flailing. The genin broke through the surface, gulping for air like a fish would for water. The irony had Arashi beside himself with laughter, making all three of his students look to him with various expressions. The dramatically betrayed looked from Obito had him laughing harder.

"C-come on...you guys!" he managed to choke out. "I-t's about time...t-to eat!"

Kakashi stood up and strolled across the river while Rin scurried down the bank. Obito crossed his arms and stubbornly stayed in the water. "I'm not going over to a team who insults me" --this was accompanied by a glare at Kakashi-- "yells at me" --a look to Rin-- "or laughs at me." --and a _very_ pointed look to Arashi.

The jounin was about to begin coaxing the boy out when Kakashi looked over his should to Obito. "Well, I'll just have to eat your portion so the food won't go to waste," he stated flatly before continuing across the river to the bank nearest the blond sensei.

Arashi sighed inwardly, pulling out the food while also watching Obito, who for once was not rising to Kakashi's bait.

Ah, well, he thought to himself as both Kakashi and Rin found seats and took their food. Eventually the two boys would get along. Though somehow the thought of the two of them getting along seemed foreboding.

"Are you sure you don' want to come out?" Arashi called out to Obito, the other two-thirds of the team turning to the missing third. "You'll get prune-y!"

Rin giggled at this, and this seemed to hinder the blond's attempts as Obito ducked underwater and swam further away. Kakashi, however, turned back to his food and pretended that Obito wasn't being stubborn and reached up to his mask.

The shout from the river caught Arashi and Rin's attention. Obito was splashing out of the water and speeding over to them only to stop in front of Kakashi, pointing. "You actually took off your mask!"

The medic-nin and jounin-sensei looked over to the chuunin, who looked up to the genin. Kakashi had his mask just the way it had been when he had left the river. Arashi schooled his face into a calm neutral expression as he ate some of his food.

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi asked boredly.

"You took off your mask!" Obito cried out again.

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, yeah?" Where'd all your food go then!"

"...I was hungry."

"So you _did_ pull down your mask!"

Rin chimed in then, "Oh, Kakashi-kun, did you? I missed it! Can I see your face, too?"

_Shift._ "It's just a face..."

"I bet you're handsome and just shy."

"Nope! He's hideous!"

"Am/Is not!" two voices objected, and Arashi couldn't help but spit out what food was in his mouth before he choked on it. He coughed as he laughed.

"Sensei!"

"Are you okay?"

"Are you choking?"

"Ew! I got rice in my hair!"

"Sensei no baka..."

Arashi managed to wave off their concern as he controlled himself. It wasn't his fault the situation was so funny. Irony was a thing loved by most jounin because they usually have been through enough to appreciate the irony in certain events.

And who wouldn't find it funny that the only thing that would get Obito out of the water was the sight of his rival's rarely-seen face?

Though...there was a sobering thought to the incident. The only way Obito could have been able to Kakashi's face would have been that he had never looked away from his team. It sobered the jounin quickly because of his understanding of Obito's character.

When the Uchiha did indeed kill his first time, it would be for one of the three of them. And no order would change that.

"Come on, Kakashi-kun! Please?"

"He's ugly, I tell you, Rin!"

"You're jealous."

"Of _your_ ugly mug! HA!"

"Kakashi isn't ugly!"

"You haven't seen his face!"

"I can see underneath the underneath!"

"SO!"

Arashi sighed and continued to eat his meal while Kakashi silently slid away from Obito and Rin. It seemed bickering really _was_ a way for them to relax. Hopefully, they wouldn't be as bad after the C-ranked mission they were going to be assigned when they got home.

  


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_Author's Notes:_ Ah, well...this was a spur of the moment one-shot. Eh heh...I thought it was kind of cute and I always thought of Yondaime as someone who was easily amused XD But yeah...my second finished Naruto one-shot...the first one isn't posted on FF.N but should be soon :D Hope you all enjoyed! Ja! 


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